1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of drives for magnetic discs, particularly "floppy" disc.
2. Prior Art
There are numerous commercially available floppy disc drives which have been marketed in large quantities for several years. For the most part, these disc drives require that the disc be manually clamped once the disc is inserted (before rotation) and, manually removed after use. As will be seen, the invented disc drive provides automatic clamping of a disc, and also automatic ejection. Importantly, these two features are obtained without additional drive mechanisms. Both features result from movement of the linear actuator used to position the magnetic heads. Several attempts have been made to provide a reliable floppy disc drive at a reasonable cost which reads and writes information onto both sides of a disc. In one prior art disc drive, the upper and lower heads are disposed one directly above the other. This has proven to be a cumbersome and unreliable arrangement, particularly since it requires movement of one of the heads in order to insert and remove the floppy disc. The invented disc drive permits access to both sides of the disc. With a unique arrangement of the magnetic heads, neither head is moved for the insertion or removal of a disc.
Floppy disc drives have become widely used in countless computer systems including the personal computer field. This wide distribution has increased the need for an inexpensive, yet reliable disc drive. As will be seen, the described disc drive is readily assembled with fewer critical parts when compared to prior art drives. The simplicity of the overall design provides improved reliability.